Flow diagram for the manufacture, consumer use, and disposal
of a woman's knit polyester blouse

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

AFMA

American Fiber Manufactures Association

BOD

Biological oxygen demand

Btu

British thermal unit

COD

Chemical oxygen demand

cu ft

Cubic Feet

DC

District of Columbia

DMT

Dimethyl terephthalate

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency

ETAD

Ecological and Toxicological Association of the Dyestuff
Manufacturing Industry

Inc.

Incorporated

Kwh

Kilo-watt hour

lb

pound

LCA

Life cycle analysis

LCI

Life cycle inventory

Ltd.

Limited

PET

Polyethylene terephthalate

PTA

Purified terephthalic acid

MM

Million

MSW

Municipal solid waste

NW

Northwest

REPA

Resource and environmental profile analysis

SETAC

Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

U.S.

United States

Executive
Summary

INTRODUCTIONThis summary highlights a Resource and Environmental Profile
Analysis (REPA) performed by Franklin Associates, Ltd. on the
manufacture, use and disposal of a manufactured textile product,
a polyester blouse.

A REPA is Franklin Associates' historical term for a Life
Cycle Inventory as described by the Environmental Protection
Agency and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
(SETAC).

The study uses a comprehensive approach, encompassing all
energy requirements, atmospheric emissions, waterborne wastes,
and solid wastes (both industrial and postconsumer). Each major
processing step, from the extraction or harvesting of raw materials
from the earth to final disposition is included in this cradle-to-grave
analysis. Detergent manufacture and home laundering are also
included in the analysis.

Life cycle inventory studies provide energy and emissions
data in physical units, such as Btu's of energy and pounds of
emissions. This should not be confused with risk or impact assessments.
An impact assessment is an attempt to determine the human health
effects or ecological effects associated with a given material
or product. At present, there is no single accepted method for
performing a meaningful impact assessment on a life cycle basis.

RESEARCH PURPOSEThe American Fiber Manufacturers Association (AFMA)
is exploring ways to evaluate and improve the overall environmental
impact of manufactured fiber products. In order to understand
the true life cycle consequences, AFMA undertook a life cycle
analysis study of a typical manufactured product and process
flow - in this case, for a 100% polyester fiber (polyethylene
terephthalate) knit fabric woman's blouse apparel item. The results
from the research effort are described both in this executive
summary and the accompanying detailed report.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONResults from this research effort are described on the basis
of energy use and releases of emissions to the environment (air,
water, and land) per one million wearings. Raw material requirements
to meet the one million wearings basis were calculated using
an average blouse life span of 40 wearings. Wash load requirements
were calculated on the basis of one million wearings by factoring
in both load size (20 blouses) and frequency of laundering (after
every two wearings). A more detailed description of these assumptions
can be found both later in this final report and in the accompanying
detailed data appendices.

Energy Requirements
The results of the energy consumption analysis are presented
in Figures ES-1, ES-2,
and ES-3. Figure ES-1 indicates the split
in energy consumption among consumer use operations (laundering,
manufacture and use of detergent, blouse disposal), blouse manufacturing
operations (resin to apparel), and blouse disposal. As the figure
indicates, approximately 82 percent of the total energy requirements
are related to consumer use. Most of this energy is consumed
in the home laundry operation. Of this energy requirement, approximately
twothirds of the energy is for washing (including heating water)
and one-third for drying.

Figure ES-2 highlights one portion of Figure ES-1, blouse
manufacturing requirements. As this figure indicates, resin manufacture
and fabric production are the two largest energy consuming operations
during the blouse manufacturing process. Resin manufacturing
includes all operations from oil and gas extraction through resin
production. Fabric production includes texturizing, knitting,
dyeing, and finishing. It should be noted that the categories
described in Figure ES-2 include associated industrial packaging
requirements.

In Figure ES-3, the consumer use portion of ES-1 is assessed.
The home laundering section of the pie chart uses 97 percent
of the consumer use total, while the detergent manufacture requires
only 3 percent.

Environmental Emissions
When interpreting results for emissions or releases to the environment,
it is important to keep in mind that the data are much more variable
than energy data.

Solid Wastes. The results of the solid waste generation analysis
are presented in Figures ES-4, ES-5,
ES-6, and ES-7 on a volume
basis. As Figure ES-4 indicates, 90 percent of the solid waste
is related to consumer use and blouse disposal, not manufacturing
requirements to produce the blouse. The consumer use value includes
municipal wastewater treatment sludge created from the washing
operation, wastes related to energy generation, detergent production
and packaging wastes, and ultimately postconsumer disposal of
the blouses.

Figure ES-5 highlights the solid waste contributions of the
blouse manufacturing operations. Fabric production and apparel
manufacture create the largest volume of solid waste from the
manufacturing operations. Most of the fabric waste is from process
solid waste including wastewater treatment sludges. Most of apparel
manufacturing solid waste is created from packaging used in transporting
the finished blouses to the retailer and consumer. Together,
resin and fiber production account for less than 30 percent of
blouse manufacturing related solid waste.

The solid waste produced by consumer use is scrutinized in
Figure ES-6. Laundering produced 95 percent of the solid waste,
as compared to the detergent manufacture, which only generated
5 percent As mentioned above, the solid waste for the laundering
includes municipal wastewater treatment sludge created from the
washing operation and wastes related to energy generation.

In Figure ES-7, the solid waste is categorized by type, process-related,
fuel-related, or postconsumer. As is shown in the figure, almost
sixty percent of the total solid waste is fuel-related, which
is ultimately from the fuel used to produce the energy needed
in the system. Thirty-eight percent of the total is postconsumer
solid waste, which comes from consumer use and disposal. Only
2 percent of the total is process-related solid waste, which
is comprised of manufacturing the product.

Atmospheric and Waterborne Emissions. Detailed tables describing
the atmospheric and waterborne emissions from manufacture, use,
and disposal can be found at the end of Chapter 2 of the final
report. The interpretation of these emissions is quite complex
because of the diversity of chemicals released to the environment.
This summary will focus on the major emission categories.

In the category of atmospheric emissions, the five largest
emissions by weight were: particulates, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons,
sulfur oxides, and carbon monoxide. Most of these emissions were
related to the generation of energy, in particular electricity
for the laundering process. Over half of the emissions for each
of these five categories is related to the fuels consumed in
the laundry operation.

Similar patterns of environmental releases can be found in
examining the waterborne effluents. The six largest effluents
on a weight basis are: dissolved solids, chemical oxygen demand(COD),
biological oxygen demand (BOD), acid, iron, and suspended solids.
Wastewater from the laundry operation accounted for large quantities
of BOD, COD, suspended solids, and dissolved solids. Acid and
iron releases came mostly from the burning of fossil fuels associated
with the generation of energy. Appendix A describes both the
typical atmospheric and waterborne releases associated with energy
generation.

Figure ES-5
ALLOCATION OF MANUFACTURING CREATED SOLID WASTES

Figure ES-6
ALLOCATION OF CONSUMER USE SOLID WASTES

Figure ES-7
ALLOCATION OF SOLID WASTE BY TYPE
(by volume)

KEY FINDINGSAs this research effort indicates, all operations during
the life cycle of a product have some environmental and energy
effects. The results of this study illustrate the importance
of inventorying the broad range of environmental discharges and
energy requirements of a product rather than focusing on only
one aspect such as solid waste or air pollution. While single-factor
analyses are sometimes useful, the development of realistic approaches
to environmental protection and improvement require a more holistic
evaluation of all environmental and resource consequences.

This research effort indicated both the breadth of operations
that must be analyzed in a complete evaluation of all stages
of a product's life as well as some of the difficulties in conducting
such a study. While the primary focus of this study was on a
manufactured polyester product, research required in order to
complete the analysis included many diverse topics. For example,
topics such as tree harvesting for secondary packaging production,
detergents used in the laundering operation, and uranium ore
mining for energy generation were explored.

Data gathering and limiting assumptions were both very time
intensive operations of this study. As is typical with research
efforts of this magnitude, data were developed from many different
sources: government references, company specific, and industry
provided. Collecting data from each of these sources involved
both a large amount of time (approximately 8 months) and extensive
follow-up conversations to verify the data. For the most part,
industry data was readily available with the difficulty being
in locating the correct person to provide the data. Consumer
use data proved much more difficult to locate.

Several assumptions were made in the course of this study.
The major assumptions affecting the results of this study involved
the consumer use and maintenance of the product. Life span (wearings)
and laundering practices had the single largest effect on the
study results. For example, doubling the wear life would in essence
cut in half the raw material requirements. Changes in apparel
maintenance habits (blouses per wash load or wearings between
laundering) would significantly alter the single largest component
of this study, laundering. Where assumptions were made regarding
consumer use and maintenance a conservative approach was taken
choosing the lower impacts for these operations (i.e. putting
the greater burden on the production operations).

In this study for example, it was demonstrated that the manufacture
of a particular reusable product was not the most significant
consequence for an energy and environmental analysis; instead,
improvements measures should be aimed at the efficiency of home
laundering devices, reducing the need for heated water in laundering,
and decreasing electrical energy demand. It may also be possible
to develop "easy care" fabrics requiring lower consumer
maintenance. These improvements would have much greater potential
benefit than improving the product manufacturing processes. (Quite
the contrary conclusion might come from a product that is single
use in nature.)

IDENTIFIED NEEDSA company undertaking a life cycle analysis study of similar
scope will be faced by several data gathering challenges. As
mentioned earlier, consumer use and maintenance data proved very
difficult to locate in this study. The data that did exist was
often too broad in scope to be applied to the specific nature
of this study. It is hopeful that in the future more research
will be conducted into several areas of consumer use and apparel
maintenance. Specifically, research is needed in the areas of
apparel life span and laundering habits. In terms of apparel
life span, it would be useful to conduct research into the average
number of wearings and chronological life span from purchase
to disposal. Laundering habit research into number of wearings
between laundering, wash load size, wash load temperature, and
dryer time requirements would be extremely beneficial to future
LCA researchers.